Cape Town is living up to its aim of becoming a green city, with an unprecedented number of sustainability-related events taking place this week, which has been coined Cape Town Green Week.

"As a green pioneer city in Africa, Cape Town is honoured to host this important cluster of events in October. Cape Town is a leading global destination for sustainability-related events and tourism, and we are encouraged to see how the business world is taking green issues on board," says Piet Van Zyl, Executive Director of Strategy and Planning at the City of Cape Town.

During Green Week, which runs from 19 to 23 October, the City will launch an Energy Efficiency Forum for commercial buildings, an Event Greening Forum for the conference and event industry and a campaign to promote fuel efficient driving. It will also have a stand at the Green Building Council of South Africa's annual convention, and is conducting carbon trading training for City staff.

"These initiatives in Green Week are a sample of the many programmes being run by the City of Cape Town to help build a more sustainable city and a low carbon future for the city," says Osman Asmal, Director: Environmental Resource Management.

The various events of Cape Town Green Week also build momentum ahead of the UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen in December 2009, at which a new international agreement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be negotiated.

The Energy Efficiency Forum, which aims to provide owners and managers of offices, shopping centres, hotels and other commercial and public buildings in Cape Town with practical ‘know-how" on how to implement energy efficiency improvements, will be launched on 21 October.The forum is a collaboration between the City of Cape Town, Eskom, the SA Property Owners’ Association and the SA Council of Shopping Centres. It is also supported by the Green Building Council of South Africa, the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.All building managers are welcome to attend, and can e-mail portia.tsomo@capetown.gov.za for more details

The inaugural workshop towards establishing an Event Greening Forum will be held at the CTICC on 19 October. The forum aims to promote greening of the events industry, with an initial focus on conferences, exhibitions and events. The main role-players include the SA Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI), Exhibition Association of SA (EXSA), Technical Production Supply Association (TPSA), and services SETAs.For more information, contact Karin Diederichs of Supporting Sustainable Events on 021 913 6865.

The City of Cape Town will have a stand at the Green Building Council of South Africa's annual convention and exhibition, which covers the latest on the green revolution in property, city design and responsible real estate development. The City is developing green building guidelines, and actively encourages new buildings to be designed green from the start, as well as energy efficiency and other greening elements in existing buildings

The City is embarking on a fuel efficiency campaign as part of the 2010 Green Goal Programme to encourage motorists to drive in a more fuel-efficient way. The initial focus of the campaign will be on City and Provincial staff, especially those who drive fleet vehicles. Transport consumes more energy than any single other activity or industry sector in Cape Town – it accounts for 55% of our total energy consumption and 28% of all carbon emissions.By simply changing driving habits, motorists can reduce their fuel consumption and save up to 20% of their fuel costs. Fuel efficient driving also ensures that there are fewer vehicle emissions, which pollute the air and contribute to climate change. For more information, contact niki.covary@capetown.gov.za

The City is training its officials and politicians about the international carbon trading market and how the municipality can take advantage of this financial opportunity for carbon-reduction projects

Cape Town Green Week will attract business leaders and green experts, and the City of Cape Town will make the most of their presence this we